A stark housing crisis has emerged in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, 18 months after Hurricane Beryl’s devastation, with opposition Senator Keisal Peters revealing that numerous residents across the islands continue to inhabit temporary tents due to profound property shortages. The situation is particularly acute on Union Island, where displaced populations have occupied public infrastructure, including a community hard court now colloquially dubbed ‘Tent City.’
This occupation has had tangible community repercussions, notably preventing the Union Island Secondary School from participating in the local netball championship due to the lost facility access. The parliamentary representative for the Southern Grenadines, Minister Terrence Ollivierre, confirmed the ongoing crisis, stating he had to implore tent residents to find alternative housing to restore community access to the court.
The political discourse surrounding the delayed recovery has intensified. Minister Ollivierre directly challenged the previous Unity Labour Party (ULP) administration’s claims that a significant portion of damaged homes had been repaired or reconstructed. He cited figures from Deputy Prime Minister St. Clair Leacock indicating that many individuals remain in paid accommodations on the mainland, suggesting resettlement efforts are far from complete.
In response, Senator Peters, who served as Minister of National Mobilisation in the former government, provided critical context. She explained that a resettlement subcommittee was established post-Beryl and uncovered a distressing trend: many affected individuals on Union Island were originally mainland migrants who moved for work. Peters alleged that numerous landlords seized the hurricane as an opportunity for ‘divine intervention,’ evicting tenants en masse and leaving them with no property to return to, thereby exacerbating the homelessness crisis.